Daily updates about Syria

5/26/2014

Rebels took the Salaam checkpoint, close to the base taken yesterday near Khan Shaykhoun, in Idlib province, giving them control of a significant amount of territory in the area.

–Forces stationed at the checkpoint surrendered soon after the assault began.

–Rebels claimed that chlorine gas was dropped on Khan Shaykhoun in response to the loss of the checkpoint.

Equipment captured around Khan Shaykhoun.

Current map of Idlib.

Jordan expelled Bahjat Suleiman, Syria’s ambassador due to his “repeated insults to Jordan and its leadership, institutions and citizens, through his meetings, writings and social media websites”.

–Syria said it was expelling Jordan’s charges d’affairs in retaliation.

Syrian planes fired at least 4 rockets on the outskirts of the town of Arsal, a border town in northeast Lebanon.

Jahbat al-Nusra claimed responsibility for the car bombing in the Zahra district of Homs yesterday.

They also said that they deliberately fired Grad rockets at the rescuers who rushed to the scene.

Iran condemned Ahmad Jarba, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, calling him week and inappropriate for the position.

4,000 prisoners have been evacuated from Aleppo Central Prison, among them 60 women and 3 children (taken along by choice of their mothers).

Fighting broke out in Nahteh, in Daraa’s eastern countryside.

–The leader of the Shuhada’a Kaheel Battalion was arrested by Jahbat al-Nusra.

–The Shari’a court in Aleppo issued a fatwa against voting in the upcoming elections.

In April, Richard Black, a US senator, wrote a letter to Assad to thank him and the SAA for its “heroic rescue of Christians in Qalamoun”.

10 air raids were carried out on Mleha and fights between rebels and government forces took place around the perimeter of the town.

One woman was killed and two men were injured after they were shot by Turkish border guards in the Tal Half area in southern Ras al-A’in.

25 people were killed in Aleppo when a barrel bomb hit the Bostan al-Qasr neighborhood.

The neighborhood is usually considered the safest rebel-held neighborhood in Aleppo because it is the closest to government-held areas, so the government does not often bomb it out of fear of hitting its own areas.